Village of Ossining Police recently collected several pounds of prescription drugs from the community's prescription drug take-back bin at the police facility. Photo Credit: The Village of Ossining Police Department

OSSINING, N.Y. – Thousands of pills and prescription drugs will never get the chance to be resold on the street thanks to the Village of Ossining Police Department’s prescription drug take-back bin.

In the last several months since the village opened Westchester’s first take-back bin in the Village of Ossining Police station, dozens of anonymous residents have turned in hundreds of pounds of unwanted prescription drugs. The police department and Ossining’s Communities That Care joined with the Drug Enforcement Administration to install the bin in the police facility last year. It has already proven to be a success, said Alice Joselow co-chair of Communities That Care.

“They’ve returned bags and bags worth of prescription drugs without us doing any significant outreach on the bin. So I’m floored by the fact that we’ve had so many people get in on this,” Joselow said. "Imagine what it would turn into if more people knew about it.”

Soon, Joselow and Ossining residents won’t have to imagine as the group is starting a new movement to publicize the bin through ads at the Ossining Train Station and inserts in every prescription filled out at Ossining pharmacies.

“Prescription drug use is one of the fastest increasing drug trends,” Joselow said. “I think that people in general are recognizing that and most communities don’t have the ability to do something about it. As people have become aware, they’re doing more and more to clean up our community.”

Village of Ossining Mayor William Hanauer said he was very pleased to hear about the success of the take-back bin.

“I think the most important thing is that people from all over the village are bringing in unwanted and unneeded over the counter drugs in order to keep them away from people who should not have them,” Hanauer said Monday. “That’s a very good thing and it shows a real civic-minded community and we should be proud of that.”

The take-back bin is located in the Ossining Police facility at 88 Spring St., is open 24-hours a day and is completely anonymous.